


Administrative Liaisons

by agent_wheeler



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Compliant, Deaf Character, Disabled Character, F/F, Military Background, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Stark Industries, Women in Pantsuits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:34:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28410990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agent_wheeler/pseuds/agent_wheeler
Summary: Kitty Polwarth, Global Liaison Officer at Stark Industries, has secrets.Unfortunately, when surrounded by other people who also lie for a living, things tend to get a little complicated.
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

“Ms Potts?” The voice on the intercom up to the office crackled to life. “Your 4-o’clock meeting has arrived. Should I send her up?”   
“I’ll come down. Get her to take a seat and I’ll be there in five minutes,” Pepper replied, not looking up from the manila file she’d been reading over. It’d been a long day of interviewing potential candidates for various posts within the Global Liaison department at Stark Industries, and this was the last one of the day. She was just tucking the CV back into the folder when there was a knock at the door. Just as she was about to invite the knocker to come inside, the door was pushed open, and in walked SI’s Head of Security, Maria Hill.   
“Maria?” Pepper asked, “can I help you?”  
“I was hoping to sit in on your last interview of the day. I had a quick read over the candidate’s file and I’d like to see how she interviews. She’s ex-military, and we were in Afghanistan at the same time, so naturally I’m a bit curious. Is that alright?”  
“Of course! I’ve got some set questions I wanted to ask, but if there’s anything else at the end that you’d like to know, just jump in. I’m picking her up from the lobby, if you want to make yourself comfortable?”   
Maria pulled up a chair as Pepper stood from her own, straightening out her blazer. “Back in a second!” She said as she walked out of the office. 

“Polwarth? Kathryn Polwarth?”   
Kitty looked up from where she’d be absent-mindedly playing with her hands to see the face of Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, looking round the very snazzy-looking waiting room. Kitty stuck her hand up, remembered she wasn’t in high school any more and so didn’t have to do that, and promptly stood. She walked over to where Pepper was standing.  
“That’ll be me, ma’am,” Kitty said, extending her hand to shake Pepper’s.  
“Oh, no, none of that. Call me Pepper. Follow me, we’ll head up to my office,” Pepper said, turning around and beginning to walk back through the doorway she’d appeared in. “How was your journey?” Pepper asked.  
“Not bad, thank you. I’m not a New York native, so I still find the subway a bit confusing, but I’ll get the hang of it eventually.”  
“Oh gosh, yes, the subway can be a nightmare. When we moved back to New York from Malibu, I got it wrong so many times. Trust me, it gets easier.”  
Something about Pepper was immediately reassuring to Kitty. Something about the women seemed so relaxed and genuine, that she couldn’t help but feel at ease. The smalltalk lulled a little as they caught the lift up to the thirty-something-th floor, but once the two women stepped out into the corridor, Pepper spoke again. “So, I had planned for it to just be me interviewing you today, but the head of our Global Security division asked if she could sit in too.”  
Pushing the door to her office open, Pepper entered the room first, and then held the door open for Kitty. True to Pepper’s word, there was another woman, this time a brunette, sat in the room. Kitty had done her research, of course. This was Maria Hill, ex-Deputy Director of SHIELD, former Army officer, all-round kickass. Maria stood as Kitty approached, and the two shook hands, before Kitty took her seat on the opposite side of the desk from Pepper, who cleared her throat and opened Kitty’s file on her desk.  
“So,” Pepper said, smiling gently, “tell us a bit about yourself.”  
“So, I’m Kathryn, Kathryn Polwarth, but I’ve gone by Kitty since I was a kid. I’m from South Wales originally, and joined the Army straight after I graduated Uni. I was in for just over ten years, left, pencil-pushed for the Civil Service for a little while, and then saw this opening advertised online and it seemed really perfect. I missed being able to use my languages whilst I was at the Civil Service, but I’m not half bad at paperwork, so this role seemed like the best of both worlds. Of course, I was drawn to Stark Industries because of its dual focus split between the defence and energy communities. My experience is much more on the defence side, but I’m willing to get stuck in with pretty much anything. Yeah? I think, I think that’s kinda it on me. Is that? Does that- Is that the sort of thing you wanted to hear?”   
“That sounds great. Obviously, you’ve put in your resume all of your languages, but maybe you could tell us a little bit about how you came to learning them? Having five languages is an achievement, and would definitely be a real asset to the company.”  
“Um, so, I’m actually first-language Welsh, second-language English, so I’ve just always lived in multiple languages. I learnt French in school, and then took Russian and Farsi training in the Army. I got to use both of them on deployment, which was definitely the most exiting part, being able to put the training into practice.”

And so, the interview continued, until about twenty minutes later, when Kitty found herself being escorted back to the front entrance, this time by Hill. Kitty thought that Maria seemed a little more uptight than Pepper, but not so much as to make her unlikeable. The two parted with Maria reiterating what Pepper had said - that Kitty would hear back in the next 24 hours as to whether they wanted her. 

Back in Pepper’s office, Maria sat down in the chair Kitty had vacated. “She seemed great,” Maria remarked. Pepper hummed, thoughtfully. “You didn’t like her?” Maria asked.  
“Oh, no, no, she seemed perfectly competent for the role. I just, I like to think myself a good judge of character and I just couldn’t get a read on her.”  
“Pepper, no offence, but you’ve been dating Tony Stark for long enough now to prove that you’re a poor-to-average judge of character at the best of times,” Maria replied. “Still, it’s your call.”

Outside, Kitty was on the phone. “Yeah, it went well, I think. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the job, and Potts and Hill seemed lovely. I’ll keep you posted though, sir.”


	2. Chapter 2

It was three weeks after she started at Stark Industries that Kitty met the man himself, Tony Stark. She’d been hot-desking on a Wednesday afternoon and had found herself sat on a large bench near the window, with a view looking out over midtown Manhattan. It’d been a fairly slow business day, translating a press release into French for later in the week, when the clip-clip-clip of the shoes of Pepper’s aide (her name was possibly Aimee, but Kitty couldn’t quite be sure) drew her attention.  
“Kitty? Ms Potts was wondering if you’d be able to pop up to her office for a sec?” The nameless aide (actually, now Kitty was pretty sure her name was Amanda) said. Kitty closed her laptop, shuffled to the edge of the bench and stood. It wasn’t terribly gainly, but it saved getting her foot jammed under the table leg. Fortunately, Amanda/Aimee/possibly Alex had elected to take the lift the fourteen floors up to Pepper’s office.  
However, when the door opened, it wasn’t just Pepper in the brightly-lit room. Pepper, as usual, was sat behind the desk, but Tony Stark was sat on the desk itself, and jumped to his feet jovially when Kitty entered. “Miss Polwarth, I presume?” Stark said, in a vaguely offensive imitation of a British accent, which in absolutely in no way resembled Kitty’s carefully crafted neutral accent.  
“Yes, that’s me, Mr Stark, sir.” Kitty replied, confused as to what Pepper needed to speak to her about that was so important that the prodigal son himself was here. Kitty had done a lot of reading on Stark, but the one thing the prep files hadn’t prepared her for was quite how short the man was. Kitty wasn’t all that tall, but Stark barely hit 5’6”.   
“Pepper had told me a bit about you when she hired you, she spoke really highly of you, and so I wanted to come meet you. Pepper said you speak Russian? Have you introduced her to Nat yet, Pep?” Tony spoke at a rapid pace, bouncing on the balls of his feet not unlike how a hyperactive puppy might.   
“No, Tony. That’s not company policy, and you know it. She’d have to be read in on the project.” Pepper said, but Tony wasn’t having it. He groaned, throwing his head back in frustration.  
“Damn policy! I own the company, surely I can introduce my staff to whoever I like?”  
“Tony, they’re not your staff. They’re literally my staff. I’m CEO.” Pepper said. Kitty felt an immense wave of admiration for this women, who clearly had the patience of a saint. “Anyway,” Pepper said, with the tone of someone who was keen to move the conversation back to business. “ I wanted to quickly check in with you, because I got a note from the HR folks this morning because they were processing your medical insurance paperwork, and they brought something to my attention that you hadn’t mentioned in your interview or your application. I know it’s probably really personal, and so I can make Tony go away if you’d like,”- (Tony scowled at this) - “but I think we should chat it through.”  
Kitty had known this was coming. Damn America and its private health insurance system. “Um, I don’t mind, ma’am. Mr Stark can stay if he’d like.” Although she’d never say it, it would actually be incredibly useful to have Mr Stark present.   
Tony shot Pepper a ‘told-you-so’ stare, and resumed his perch on the edge of Pepper’s desk. Pepper cleared her throat. “So, on your medical paperwork, you’ve disclosed a lower-limb amputation sustained as a result of an incident with an IED in Afghanistan. I’m not too worried about the medical side of it all, that’s a conversation for you to have with a physician, but what I would quite like to talk about is how we can make sure that you’re able to get around as easily as possible whilst you’re at SI.”  
Kitty wasn’t ashamed of the fact her military career had been curtailed by an unfortunate altercation with an IED in the middle of butt-fuck-nowhere, Afghanistan. In fact, it was probably one of the main reasons she’d landed the SI gig in the first place. That being said, she’d been relieved that people at SI seemed to use the building’s abundance of lifts much more often than they ever took the stairs, and she told Pepper this.   
“Yeah, there’s a lot of stairs.” Stark chipped in, unhelpfully. “You know,” he continued, “if you wanted, I could probably have a look at upgrading whatever you’re using as a prosthetic. You know, increased range of motion, maybe we’d even be able to hook it up so that you could feel textures with the fake foot. You know, Pepper, maybe we should expand SI’s portfolio to cover medical technology too. Now that I’m finished working with Barton on his stuff, and if I di”-  
“-Tony for the love of God! Stop! You’re going to scare Kitty, she’s only known you for all of five minutes!” Pepper cut in. Stark held his hands up in surrender.  
“Let me introduce her to Nat, though? Please, Pepper? I think they’d be friends.”  
“Maybe, Tony, maybe. If you can convince Nat to come to the SI Christmas Party, I promise you can introduce the two of them then.” Pepper said, throwing Kitty a sympathetic glance. “Look, Kitty, I’m sorry about the interruption today. I should probably get back to babysitting this literal man-child, but if you think of anything else, just drop me an email?”“Yes, ma’am,” Kitty said, and closed the door on her way out.


	3. Chapter 3

The Stark Industries Christmas Party had been the talk of the Global Liaison team for a number of weeks by the time that the event actually rolled around. Kitty could have recited in excruciating detail exactly what each member of the department was going to wear, who they were bringing as their plus one, and exactly how drunk they were planning on getting. Kitty was looking forward to the event, she’d even gone out of her way to buy a new suit for it. Since her discharge, she’d pretty much stopped wearing skirts entirely, opting instead for wide-legged trousers that allowed her to hide her injury. 

The party itself was being held in Stark Tower, but on a floor far above the ones that Kitty had learnt to navigate as part of her job. The floor the party was on had huge glass windows that offered spectacular views of all of Manhattan. Kitty had arrived alone, about thirty minutes after the party had already started. It was already fairly lively by the time she got there, although it was only half past seven in the evening. Immediately on entry she was offered a glass of champagne, which she took, and proceeded to remove herself to a corner of the room to nurse her drink, not feeling an overwhelming urge to start mingling. The corner she had chosen offered a beautiful view of the city all lit up in Christmas regalia, and she had almost finished her glass when she heard the footsteps of someone coming up behind her. Kitty had expected it to be Lucie, who also worked in Global Liaison, who had become something of a friend to Kitty when she’d first started at SI, showing her exactly where you needed to punch the photocopier to get it to work, and which break-rooms had the most functional coffee machines. 

Instead, Kitty turned around to be faced with Maria Hill, who had also chosen the pantsuit option for the night’s event. “Didn’t fancy the dancefloor?” Maria asked.  
“I’m nowhere near drunk enough for that yet, ma’am,” Kitty responded, almost truthfully.   
“We’re off the clock, call me Maria, I insist.”  
“Are we though? Ms Potts told me you were a soldier too. Surely you also sometimes get the feeling that you’ve never really quite clocked out.”  
“I suppose it’s a skill that comes with practice. I’ve been out for years, after all. When did you leave?” Maria asked.  
“Two years ago, although sometimes it feels like it might as well have been yesterday.”  
“You just had enough? Or?”   
“Or.”  
“Or, what?” Maria asked, before seeming to check herself. “I’m sorry, we don’t have to talk about it, if it’s personal.”   
Kitty did a quick cost-benefit calculation, before ploughing ahead, because what the hell. “I left because I had half my leg blown off by an IED. Honestly, can’t recommend it. Only gave them two stars on TripAdvisor.”  
Maria snorted a quiet laugh, but then recovered.   
“And, why did you leave?” Kitty asked. She figured it was only fair. Plus, she’d read a lot about Hill’s post-Army career in her briefing booklet, and wanted to see if she’d would make any effort to make the stories match up.   
“I’d had enough. Plus, got made a pretty good offer of some government work in Washington working with veterans.” Maria said, shrugging. Kitty laughed internally. Technically, she supposed, ‘working with veterans’ wasn’t an entirely inaccurate way to describe the work that had been done by the now newly-disgraced SHIELD, but it was a spectacular example of the selective truth-telling that Kitty had expected from the organisation’s 2iC.  
“What did you do in the army, then?” Maria asked, moving the conversation back on to safer ground.

Once the initial awkwardness had subsided, Kitty found herself relaxing into the conversation with Maria. The pair talked about tours they’d done and roles they’d been posted to, speaking in the language of jargon and acronyms that Kitty thought she’d lost, but found tucked away in the back of her brain. Some while later, Maria excused herself to return to mingling, but Kitty had barely been alone for two minutes when she was pounced upon by further company, although she’d heard him coming from a mile off.

“And this is who I said I’d introduce you to,” the loud (definitely drunk) voice of Tony Stark said as he wandered into her eye line, although it was clear Tony wasn’t actually talking to her yet. Instead, he was talking to the somewhat reluctant-looking redhead who accompanied him. Kitty’s brain immediately started scanning for any possible information about who this woman was. She looked familiar, she’d definitely been in the briefing packet.  
“This is … Katelyn? Karen?” Tony said, floundering, gesturing in Kitty’s direction.   
“Kathryn,” Kitty offered, extending her hand for the mysterious redhead to shake. “Kathryn Polwarth. I work in the Global Liaison office for Stark Industries.”  
“Kathryn, this is Natasha, a close friend of mine. I think you’d get on well.” Tony said, without pausing for breath. “Let me fetch you both a drink whilst you get acquainted.”   
Once Tony had disappeared, Kitty turned her attention to Natasha. Suddenly the penny dropped as to where she’d seen her before. This was the Black Widow, who’d dumped her personal and professional history, in all of its bloody glory, online when SHIELD fell. Immediately Kitty felt herself sizing up the woman, a little more nervous. If anyone was going to smell a mole, it’d be Natasha Romanov.   
“Is he- is he always like that?” Kitty asked.  
“Like what?” Natasha asked, face the perfect mask of cool disinterestedness.  
“Like, a lot. Just, very full on.”  
“Pretty much.”  
“He seems to suffer from the old affliction of assuming people will be friends because they have a singular thing in common.” Kitty commented, and then switched language: << He told me I should meet you because I speak Russian>>  
“For a second-language learner, your accent isn’t the worst.” Natasha replied, in English, still the picture of disinterest.  
“Fourth language, if we’re being pedantic.” Kitty corrected.  
“Oh?”   
“Welsh, English, French, Russian, Farsi.” Kitty listed off, counting them off on her fingers.   
“And what did you do before you came to work for Stark?” Natasha asked. Kitty got the odd feeling that this was rather more of an interrogation than small-talk at a party.  
“Worked in the British Civil service for a while, Army before that. And you? How’d you meet Stark?”   
“I worked for SI for a while, in the Legal team, and was Mr Stark’s last secretary before he handed the role of CEO over to Ms Potts.” Natasha replied, and Kitty fought a desperate urge to raise her eyebrows. By this point, Stark himself had returned with cocktails for Kitty and Natasha.  
“Ah yes,” Tony said. “And marvellous work you did too, Ms Rushman.” Natasha shot him a look, and Kitty couldn’t help but feel like she’d missed an inside joke. “Do you know if Clint’s here tonight?” Tony asked Natasha. “I’d quite like him to meet Kathy - that was it, wasn’t it?”  
“Kathryn,” Kitty corrected.  
“I’d quite like him to meet Kathryn. I think they’ve got some common ground. Mostly, I’d like Clint to convince Kathryn here to join my little R&D project. Have you given it any more thought, Kathryn?” Stark asked. Natasha looked quietly confused, but covered it well.   
“It’s a very kind offer, Mr Stark. Perhaps we could meet about it in the New Year?” Kitty replied, and Stark beamed.   
“Right,” he said, clapping his hands together. “I’m going to find Barton.” He wandered off again, leaving Kitty in the company of Natasha.   
“What does Stark want you for for R&D?” Natasha asked, almost immediately.  
“Couldn't tell you," Kitty replied, shrugging.


End file.
